


Familiar Feelings

by Sophie_The_Witch



Category: Twisted-Wonderland (Video Game)
Genre: ...its basically all from mc, Burglary, High School, Japanese Mythology & Folklore, Multi, Swearing, Tea Parties, Yokai AU, they promise theyre not a delinquent
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-02-04
Packaged: 2021-03-16 09:08:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29079852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sophie_The_Witch/pseuds/Sophie_The_Witch
Summary: You think everyone could agree on one thing in Japan. Don’t mess with youkai. Demons, gods, kitsune - whatever breed it was, you kept them happy. Mostly so they didn’t curse you, but you’d heard that some had gotten their blessings.So when you discover one of the feral cats you feed every Tuesday is a nekomata, you are considerably freaked out. Blue fire and two tails, he was everything you expected from a spirit like him. Your favourite local stray cat… a youkai."...Shoot me."And then, he goes and insists you're his Master (??) and that he knows others who are also your familiars. Apparently, they were waiting for you.Well, you probably won’t be lonely anymore, at least…
Comments: 13
Kudos: 104





	1. Tuna Sandwiches And Feral Cats

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by @twstedforyou 's au on tumblr :)

High school, for the most part, was an awful place. The classes were either so stress-inducing you felt like you could faint, or so boring that you’d fall asleep at your desk. Safe to say, you weren’t one of the best students.

But, there was one good thing about school. Or well, after it at least.

You hop down the stairs, weaving through the small groups of lingering students. You had a destination, as you did after every day of school. You lived in one of the hillier areas of Tokyo, and quieter too. You were thankful for that, considering the fact that if you’d lived in one of the busier areas, your refuge would be nonexistent.

You head out the school gates, hand on your backpack and a hum in your throat. You weave through the streets with comfortable ease, the type you could only get from living there for years. You stop by the same vending machine as usual, slipping in a few hundred yen into slots and making the same choice as always ‘3-E’ a tuna mayo and lettuce sandwich. You bought five in total, frowning when you realise your sandwich funds were growing short. Shrug it off, you think. Your paycheck would be coming in a few days time, you could ration enough till then.

You pass by the house with the vines creeping up its walls and turning a corner into the alleyway beside it.

A small smile breaks out on your lips, relief flooding through you.

Yes, this was your safe place.

Most would think it was an ordinary alleyway at first glance, but when you went inside you’d find a small garden, inaccessible except from two tiny alleyways, the paths mostly obscured by low hanging trees that you’d have to duck under.

You were the only one who knew about this place, you think. You were definitely the only one who came here, that was for sure.

Well… except for the cats.

“Hello guys!” you call out, grinning down at the furry buddies swarming your ankles.

You shrug your backpack off, your smile widening at their chorus of meows. One leaps up, scratching at your legs. You laugh, swatting the impatient tabby away.

“Jeez! How rude, Mr. Orange, you really ought to learn some better manners!” you scold through your laughter. Pulling out a couple of tuna sandwiches from your bag, the meowing grows even louder. You laugh again as one somehow manages to hook itself on the bottom of your backpack and starts tugging it down. 

You let your bag fall to the wet grass below you, you worry it might leak in and ruin your books, but if you had held onto it you probably would have toppled over on top of the poor feline, and you couldn’t have that.

You straighten up, making sure to keep the vending machine sandwiches from the greedy cats' grasp.

“My gosh! I spoil you guys _way_ too much!” you say, placing your hands on your hips. You raise an eyebrow down at the cats and then shake your head, tutting at them.

They just continue pawing at you, the slip between your pants and your socks getting scratched to death by the little demons.

“Alright, _alright!_ I’ve got the goods, there’s enough to go around, ladies,” you unwrap a sandwich, barely stopping yourself from dropping them all and into the snake pit below you. They’d eat the plastic if they got to them before you unwrapped them, and that was always unpleasant to see thrown up.

You finally unwrap the sandwich, get it one hand and scream-

“ _Go long!_ ” and then you yeet the sandwich across the park, tuna and lettuce flying everywhere.

Immediately half the pack splits from you, a good fifteen or so cats scrambling across the field in search of tuna and bread, the lettuce being picked off by Mr. Green - named so because he was the only one who liked the lettuce, for some reason. He was a weird cat.

The ones still at your feet’s screeching grow louder, and you laugh again. These were the smarter ones, the ones who realised that they’d probably get more if they waited longer. Cunning little bastards, but gorgeous none-the-less.

You unwrap the next sandwich with only slightly more finesse, and toss it in the opposite direction of the other sandwich. Cue a parade of cats majestically chasing after a flying tuna sandwich. Oh, Ms. H.C. (stood for Heterochromia, she had one blue eye and one yellow one) got slapped in the face by a piece of bread. She goes flying head over tail, rolling down the hill and ploughing into Mr. Chubby (he was named that _lovingly_ , you insisted). With the force she hits him, she flips over him, crashing to the ground with none of the grace she usually had.

_Ouch_ … pfft. You only laugh a little bit, you swear.

Both Mrs. H.C. and Mr. Chubby shrug off their little tumble, going right back to feasting on their tuna and bread. You smile wearily, shaking your head at them. Nothing could get between a cat and it’s food, your mother always told you that.

You turn your head back to the lingering cats, the small group the same as usual. They were sat there, their tails flicking back and forth, but they didn’t make a sound. They somehow knew I always ended up not giving all the sandwiches out, and they did their best to make sure they got as _much as possible._

They were the real masterminds behind the group of thirty-seven cats. Only three sat at your feet, but they were obviously the ones in charge, having an even _haughtier_ air than the usual cats. You didn’t think it was possible till you met these three.

So, you called them by their appropriate titles.

“Chairman Spots, Chairwoman Bubbles and Head Chairman Stripes, I offer you these humble gifts,” you bow down deeply, a serious expression and your hands offering out a tuna sandwich for the three of them to share. 

Just the three of them, it was a very good offering, you think.

You dare a peak up, and Head Chairman Stripes gives you a _very_ unimpressed look. You grin cheekily, laughing when the cat rolls his blue eyes. Stripes was the strangest out of all the cats, almost seeming human at times. You’d often have dreams of him talking to you, demanding hundreds and thousands of tuna sandwiches in a squeaky voice. Then you’d cry because you didn’t have enough money. He’d forgive you, of course, he was a very reasonable Head Chairman.

Bubbles swipes the sandwich down onto the ground, and her and Spots go eating straight away, the little _‘nom-nom’_ noises squeezing your heart.

“So cute~” you coo, scratching Bubbles’ ear. She leans into your touch, her white fur soft and silky as always.

Stripes hisses, pawing at your hand, and you giggle.

“Aw~ Is somebody jealous?” you turn to the cat, scratching at its gray ears. Another thing about Stripes was he was a huge attention whore. An adorable attention whore, but…

He purrs, shoving his head into your hand so much you can’t even pet him.

...Still an attention whore.

You admire the cat in front of you, taking in his weird puffy scarf-string-gem collar (the scarf had small black and white stripes along it, hence his name) and he had a weird fluffy poof of white hair on his chest. He was a normal enough looking cat, except for the _extremely_ odd collar around his neck.

And the collar…

You narrow your eyes at it, it was tied wrong, almost rushed, like someone planned to fix it later. You’d always wanted to fix it, but you’d seen how he’d reacted to the other cats touching it, so you would rather not piss off your biggest fan. There was also a cyan-blue gem dangling from the edge of the string. You’d often have to push it back in place, otherwise, it’d touch the ground and then Stripes would scream bloody murder. 

...He was a _really_ weird cat.

He rubs even closer, and you smile, tilting your head. He was really fond of you, for reasons you couldn’t quite understand. He was very… standoffish… to everyone (you mean the other cats, of course) except for you. You didn’t really know why he’d shown up in the first place, considering he never ate any of the sandwiches unless you forced him to.

“You should really eat more, Chairman Stripes. Considering you’re here every day I don’t think you have an owner-” you start to softly chide him, and then his eyes snap open, glaring up at you. 

You tilt your head to the right.

“No? You have an owner?” you ask, and when his eyes close again, going back to revel in your pets, you assume you’re right.

“Wow. They must wonder where you head off to every day. But I guess they wouldn’t worry _too_ much, after all, you are one of the smartest kitties out there~” Stripes purrs at your words, the vibrations travelling up your arm.

You sit in the grass, the wet ground likely going to stain your clothes, but you don’t really care, staring up into the sky with a contented smile. Stripes gets up, moving to sit in your lap between your crossed legs.

You let out another sigh of relief, smiling down at the happy cat. You then look up to the sky again, admiring the clouds passing overhead and the way the heavens slowly turn into a warm amber and pink.

“...School sucked again, Stripes,” you say, ready to vent your worries to the loving cat. His purring grows louder, and you like to imagine he’s trying to comfort you. You scratch under his chin as thanks.

“My history teacher… she was… certainly something today. She kept yelling at me for falling asleep, which is fair, but I…” you never ended up telling Stripes about anything other than school, your troubles at home, something you didn’t like to talk about to even yourself.

So even the strange cat didn’t know you lived alone, sad and tired.

A drop on your shoulder.

You blink, looking up at the sky, and to your dismay, it had quickly grown grey above your head. The rain fell, starting with a few drops here and there, and quickly growing heavier and heavier, till the cats were fleeing to shade and out of the park.

You sit there in the rain for a second and then startle. There was someone who stayed, you realise.

The one cat who didn’t leave, little Stripes, hunkers closer into you. The poor thing is drenched, but he refuses to leave your side whatsoever. You leer over him, pulling to your feet and rushing over to your backpack where you had stored an umbrella. You cradle him in your arms, trying to keep him as dry as possible.

“Shit… oh Stripes, you’ll catch a cold,” you mutter to yourself, pulling the umbrella out and slinging your backpack over your shoulder. 

You quickly look around, making sure that no excess food had been left on the ground, and then you rush out of the park. It was cold and you were pretty miserable, so you wanted to get home and dry yourself off.

You look down at Stripes, realising you’d be bringing him home with you. Mum shouldn’t be home anytime soon, so it’d probably be fine. She hated cats, any animal, really. 

...In many ways, you were her opposite.

You rush through the streets of rural Tokyo, your feet splashing in puddles and your body only kept warm by your running. You turn onto your street and pull open the fence to your house. You quickly put Stripes down, unlocking the door and nudging the cat inside with your foot.

Sighing once you get inside, you crumble down to the floor. You close your eyes, your body taking this momentary rest as the god-send it was.

Ugh, you were wet and grumpy and there was so much you needed to do…

A meow wakes you from your almost-nap and you turn sleepy eyes on Stripes. He blinks his dark blue eyes up at you, gently laying a grey paw on your leg. You smile wearily at him, leaning down to kiss him between the ears.

“Welcome to my home, Head Chairman Stripes. I hope you like your stay here-” a loud crash further in the house disturbs you, and your voice cuts off, eyes wide.

Your smile drops off of your face.

“...Hello?!” you call out, to the dark house. Your house was supposed to be empty, your parents both away on business trips…

The house stays silent this time, and you bite your lip.

...This wasn’t good.


	2. A Burglar? In My House? Really?

You bite your lip, glancing around at the house enshrouded in darkness. You’d never had much of a problem with the dark, you’d come home this late so many times that you felt more comforted in the blanket of night than the bold light of day. But of course, most days you didn’t come home to banging in your house.

You look down at Stripes, a nervous smile on your face.

“Maybe Mum came home without telling me?” he blinks up at you, and when another crash echoes through your house he whips his head around, eyes slitting and ears pricking.

“...Yeah I don’t think so either,” you mutter to yourself.

Stripes darts out of your arms, and you flail to grab him but it’s too late. He runs into the house, the last bit of him you see his tail, disappearing into the shadows. You curse, jumping to your feet. You need to call the police and get that damn cat before-

A flash of blue explodes in front of you, and then a man is thrown out of the darkness at your feet. You scream, scrambling back against the door. The man is covered in burns, ash coating his face.

“I didn’t want to let them know just yet… but I guess I have to,” your head whips up at the words, and then…

A two-tailed cat walks out of the shadows, blue flames surrounding the kitty.

Your mouth drops open, and your keys clatter to the ground. 

“I, the Great Grim, shall end you for daring to enter my Master’s abode,” the cat says, little bits of fang flashing with every word. It twitches an ear, blue flames swirling inside them. Two tails flit from side to side, the same blue flames sitting at the tips of said tails. The cat walks forward with confidence, eyes set on the prey in front of him.

You hear a groan, and you look down. The man is slowly trying to drag himself away from the cat, towards you and the door. You freeze as he grabs your ankle, and you shriek.

His hand is instantly enveloped in blue flames, and he wails, retracting it and holding it to his chest. You stumble backwards, pressing yourself against the door, doing your best to shake off the blue flames, but pausing when you realise they aren’t burning you. All it did was leave a nice warmth.

You stare down at your ankle, the fire slowly disappearing.

The man screams again, and your eyes flit up to him.

The cat stands in front of him, slitted eyes watching calmly as he burned. The man writhes, twisting and turning in an attempt to put out the flames.

You dart forwards, immediately beginning to pat him down and help him put out the flames. They don’t go out, and for some reason, they still don’t hurt you. You grow more and more hysterical as the flames refuse to go out, and the man’s screams grow louder and louder. You didn’t care who he was, all you cared about was someone dying in your home. Your mum would kill you.

“Shit, shit, shit,  _ shit. Stop damnit!” _ you cry out, and to your surprise, it does. The flames disappear in under a second, disappearing into nothingness and only leaving the remnants of the man.

You blink, staring down at the man, passed out due to the pain.

“...I still think I should kill him,” the same voice says from below you, and you whip your head down to stare at the cat.

“I- You- you talk. You are on fire. You- you have two tails,” you stutter, going down the list of all the things incredibly wrong with this cat. 

“Yes, that’s true,” the cat, says nodding. It’s big blue eyes stare up at you, and they feel awfully familiar-

And that’s when it clicks in your head, your eyes growing to the size of saucers.

“ _ S-Stripes?! _ ” What in the fresh hell, your stray cat friend can talk. 

Stripes rolls his eyes, swivelling around to face you better and away from the crispy fried home-intruder beside him.

“You figured it out, I thought it would take longer,” you scowl at his words, your Stripes was… was  _ rude!  _ He’d seemed so well-mannered when he couldn’t talk.

Wait, he can talk. How can he talk? He shouldn’t be able to talk.

“How- how are you talking. You are a  _ feral cat _ ,” you say, hoping that reminding him once again he was breaking all the laws of nature would make him shut up. 

“I can talk because I’m a nekomata, duh. Come on, two tails? Don’t tell me your parents didn’t tell you about us or something,” he says, waving his two tails in your face, you rear back dodging the fire at their ends.

“Uh- my… my mum told me, but you… you aren’t…” you slowly lose the will to speak, just staring down at Stripes.

“Real? Well, this might be a little shocking, but we youkai are  _ very  _ real.”

You just stand there, staring quietly at the self-proclaimed nekomata, unable to quite connect the dots in your head.

“Ah, this must be a fever dream. Of course, I’ve been working too hard recently, and this is my punishment. I will likely wake up soon and go to school and then Stripes will no longer talk,” you tell yourself, still staring at Stripes.

Wait, he said his name was Grim, didn’t he? Do cats name themselves? Wait, nekomata.  _ Wait!  _ This isn’t fucking real!

He just meets your gaze, worry in his eyes. His feline eyes had always been so expressive, you guess that’s why.

“Okay, I’m really not doing too well at this whole denial thing,” you tell him, your habit of telling cats everything on your mind not leaving even when they talk back.

“I can see that,” Grim says, and you can barely hear his comment.

_ I’m talking to a cat. I am talking to… a cat. I am  _ **_talking_ ** _ to a  _ **_cat!_ **

Wait, what did that little asshole say?

Another frown from you.

“Dude, could you stop being so sassy? My entire understanding of life has been broken and I really don’t know how to react,” you say, waving your hands at all of his…  _ abnormal  _ traits. 

He shakes his head, sighing and turning back to Mr. Crispy. The body, if you were wondering who Mr. Crispy was.

“Well, let’s not worry about that for now. I’ll turn this guy to ash and we’ll then drop the rest of his remains in the river,” he says, nudging the guy with his paw.

Wait,  _ what did the cat say?! _

“What!? No! No ash! No dumping in rivers!” you say, shaking your head violently.

“Well, we can’t just leave him here, “ Grim says, giving you another disappointed look.

“We- we can’t kill the guy!” you stutter out, gesturing down at the unconscious body of your home intruder. 

“Why not? He broke into your home and I can’t let someone do that to you, Master,” he says, his two tails flicking back on forth in irritation. Huh, he still has the same signs of emotion as every other cat. You thought that was kinda hilarious.

“He- I-  _ No! _ No murder! Not in my house!” you insist, the hysteria growing stronger with every passing second. You did  _ not  _ know how to deal with any of this, burglar, nekomata or unconscious bodies.

He glances from you down to the body and grumbles, rolling his eyes.

“ _ Fine,  _ he lives. But we still need to do something with him, I could just bury him alive if-” he starts, but you cut him off with another unholy screech.

“No! No, we’re not burying him alive, damnit! Holy shit, oh my god,” you press a hand to your skull, slapping the side of your face a couple of times. Okay, you can do this, you’ve dealt with worse… definitely not weirder, though.

“...Okay, okay. We…  _ I’ll _ call the police, tell them he broke in and I…” you both stare at the man, the scorch marks littering his body. How the hell were you going to explain that?

“How are you going to explain that to them, huh, Master?” Stripes-  _ Grim _ says, sounding like he was still irritated you wouldn’t let him kill the guy.

_ That’s what I want to know, you lying-bastard cat. _

_ Wait, lightbulb! _

You snap your fingers together, and then you run off into the kitchen. You grab a lighter and then dart into the main bathroom, rummaging about in the cupboards. You let out a small “aha!” and grab the can you need.

You head back out into the hallway, and Grim looks up from the body to you. You shake the aerosol can and the lighter in a jazz-hands sorta way, grinning down at the unimpressed cat.

“What’s that?” he asks, tilting his head. Oh…  _ he doesn’t know. _

You quirk an eyebrow, still grinning. You flick the lighter open, and ready the hairspray can. Grim looks up at you, uncertain. You bet you look evil right now, and you certainly would be in a moment.

“Boo.”

_ ‘FWOOSH!’ _

The hairspray can spreads the flames, and Grim shrieks, jumping into the air. You laugh, extremely proud of your makeshift flame-thrower. Grim settles down, scratching at your leg and whining.

“That was so mean, Master! Why would you do that?!” Grim demands, his fur standing up on end. He keeps glancing at the homemade arson tool, obviously worried about it. You didn’t think he should, considering he was literally on fire in multiple places.

Your laughter trails off, and you release the hold on the hairspray, letting the flames die out. 

“It’s a good excuse, isn’t it? Plus, I’ve always wanted to try it,” you say, squatting down next to Grim and poking the body.

Grim sighs, raising paws into the air in a shrug. Now that,  _ that _ was adorable. You scratch under his chin and he instantly melts into your touch, same as the Stripes you knew. 

“Well, at least you are back to normal,” he mutters, pressing his head into your hand, closing his eyes in pure bliss.

You frown slightly at his words. You had always been good at bouncing back, but you didn’t know if you were actually back to normal this time. It was all overwhelming, and you didn’t know if it was even possible for you to bounce back from all of this.

You analyse Grim again, tilting your head. The blue fire continued to flick around his ears and tails, but mostly it was your Stripes. Things haven't changed that much, you tell yourself. It might be a lie… but sometimes lying was okay. Sometimes people needed the little lies.

“Like Santa,” you mumble, and Grim’s eyes open at your words.

“...What? Anyway, it would be much easier if I just killed him, you know,” Grim says, an earnest expression on his face as if he wasn’t suggesting murder.

“...A murderous Santa,” you say, shaking your head and retracting your hand. He leans in further, trying to get more pats.

“Alright, I’m gonna go talk to the police, and when they arrive here…” your eyes flick between his monstrous features, and they disappear, leaving a strange cat with an attitude problem.

He rolls his eyes at you, moving from the hallway and into the living room, settling into the couch.

You sigh, shaking your head, you were gonna have to clean the hair before Mum came home. You wondered if you’d be able to pretend you were sane till she did. Well, only one way to find out...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're on a roll, boys! Let's keep this going. Also, I'm gonna be posting my writing on my Tumblr too, so go follow if you wanna talk or something: https://sophiethewitch1.tumblr.com/


	3. The String Of Fate

You wave the police officers away, a slightly-fake smile on your face. Closing the door, you rest your head against the door with a sigh. That was the hardest you’d ever lied, but morally, probably better than killing the guy.

You really just want to head to your room and sleep, but you know that you have to go and address the youkai sitting in your living room pretending to be a regular house cat.

...You hit your head against the door, lingering in the hallway for just a precious moment more.

“Is he gone now? That guy was annoying,” you hear from behind, finding a sitting Grim, his youkai form out now. 

You place a hand on your hip, staring down at the moody nekomata. He’d gotten super angry while the police were over, and he even bit one.

“I thought he was nice,” you say, moving to go sit down in the living room.

_ “That’s the problem…” _ Grim mutters something from behind you, and you turn to him as you sit down on the couch. It was a dingy old thing, but you loved it none-the-less. 

“What did you say?” you ask, and Grim simply shakes his head, hopping up onto the couch and into your lap.

You scratch his ear, still finding it weird how his fiery ears seem to not burn you, but don’t think too hard about it. After all, you were just trying to get used to things right now. 

Which, you had to admit, was pretty damn hard.

Grim leans into your hand, his purring reminding you of a rumbling engine. He pushes into your hand in that way that only makes it harder for you to scratch him.

“Well… what now?” you ask, and Grim snaps out of his blissful state, rearing back a little from you.

He shuffles out of your lap a little and…

_ ‘POOF!’ _

A burst of blue mist envelops Grim’s small form for a second, and then when the fog disappears, a man sits in his seat. A man with cat ears.

You scramble back, falling off the couch with a loud thump.

“Master-! What did you do that for?!” Grim says, and you quickly realise the dumb cat just transformed into a catboy.

“Well,  _ maybe _ you should’ve given me some warning! What the hell, Stripes?!” you curse, rubbing your backside. 

“It’s Grim, the  _ Great _ Grim, and I didn’t think you’d react like that!” he says, reaching out a clawed hand to help you back up. You hesitate for a second, and then take it, pulling yourself to your feet and back onto the couch.

You analyze Grim’s new form with only mild trepidation, taking in the boy’s fluffy black hair and strange traditional Japanese clothing. He has the same fire ears and tails, with small black cheek markings perpendicular with his eyes. He grins sharp teeth at you, seeming proud of this form. Really, he seemed overly proud of everything he did.

“...Can I ask why you turned into… this?” your voice only has a hint of distaste in it, but Grim picks up on it anyway, his grin turning into a frown.

“Hey, don’t say it like that! I’ll have you know my human form is one of the most handsome out there-!” he rants, but you cut him off, rolling your eyes.

“Back on track, Stripes.”

He stops, glaring at you before taking a deep breath.

“It’s for the binding ceremony-” he starts, but once again you cut him off.

“Wait! Binding?! Like marriage?” you ask, eyes wide and mildly horrified. You couldn’t get married! You had two years of high school left!

He blinks, tilting his head.

“Huh, well, in human terms I guess,” and you swear, you are off that couch in milli-seconds.

_ “I am not marrying you-!”  _ you shout, waving your hands in front of you.

“Wait, I said that wrong,  _ please calm down!” _ he says, kneeling on the couch and pressing his head down in a bow. The deep bow shocks you enough for you to shut up long enough for Grim to look up, apologetic worry in his eyes.

“It’s more important than marriage, but you are not duty-bound to stay with me. I cannot back out, but you can!” he says, and when you don’t do anything other than sit back down on the couch, still staring at him weirdly, he gets up from his bow.

He still sits on his knees, you wonder if he’s prepared to prostrate himself before you again.

He takes another deep breath.

“The binding… is a contract between humans - our masters - and youkai.”

A contract? You were instantly suspicious.

He shakes his head, his serious expression disappearing and a grin growing on his face. You’re momentarily shocked by how much that bright expression reminds you of Stripes, the mischievous look in his eyes near  _ exactly  _ the same.

And almost as soon as it started, your suspicion drops.

“Alright! I, Grim, will only explain this once! So listen up!” he says, and then he reaches up to the messily tied rope/necklace that sits around his neck, holding it with reverie.

He holds the bright blue string up, the gem at its epicentre sparkling in the dim light from the kitchen. It loops and weaves through his fingers, getting tangled on every part of him, almost like it was a magnet.

His grin softens a little.

“ _ This _ is what you humans call ‘fate’! The ‘red string’, ‘destiny’, ‘soulmates’...” he trails off, and then blinks shaking his head, and trying to rid the fog in his mind.

“Whatever! This is proof that I’m yours, get it?” he looks up from the string to you, handing you the rope. You take it with the same absorption he does, staring down at the rope with intrigue. 

Fate? You’d never much believed in it, but if you could accept a nekomata on your couch…

The rope feels warm in your hands, comforting and like a blanket. Or like a warm fire in winter, something that could harm, but would only calm you. Your hands clench around the rope.

“A youkai will have only one master in their entire life,” he says, guiding your hands gently to his neck. You wrap the rope around, and then start tying it, your body knowing how exactly to do so, reminding you of muscle memory.

It… was peaceful.

Grim grins down at you.

“You’re incredibly lucky to have me!  _ Ack - tie it more gently! _ ” he says, complaining when you tie the rope a smidge too tight.

_...Big baby. _

You finish off the last knot and lean back to admire your handy work. Grim picks up two frayed edges to the rope and grins down at them. You guess this was why he never tied it properly himself, he was waiting for you to do it.

The corner of your mouth twitches upward into a smile.

Grim looks up, making eye contact with you. His smile is dazzling, pure elation shining off of him. You didn’t quite get why he was so happy, but you were happy for Stripes too.

... _ What a weird cat… _

“I’ve been waiting for so long, so don’t go dying on me anytime soon, Master!”

You smile, tilting your head. You place a hand between his ears, petting him.

“...I’ll try not to.”

-

The next morning you wake up with the sun in your eyes, and you curse. Did you fall asleep in the lounge room after work again? You really wished you remembered to go to your room, oh what you’d give for some good black-out curtains right now.

You groan into your couch, and when you hear a responding hiss of irritation, you shoot up. You blink sleep-crusted eyes around, and when you realise it’s just Grim, you relax. Yesterday was…

Well, you almost got robbed, you met your contractually bound youkai, and now you were sleeping on the couch with him. 

You groan, flopping back down onto the couch. You glance at the clock hanging above the doorway to the kitchen, eyes narrowing when you see you only have an hour till school. Grim snuggles in closer to you, noticing your annoyance.

“...You’re awake, aren’t you?” you ask, rolling your eyes when you hear the responding snicker.

You push him off of your lap, and he rolls into the side of the couch, almost being swallowed by the folds. He screeches, pulling himself out with his claws, and you smirk down at him.

“Cmon, _ Chairman _ Stripes, I gotta go to school,” you say, getting off of the couch and stretching. At least you’d had the good sense to change clothes before bed. You hated waking up in yesterday’s uniform…

The nekomata hops down from the couch and into your arms, and you catch him. Damn reflexes, you wouldn’t have caught him if you had thought it through, but Chairman Stripes had trained you well, and it was hard to shrug off those kinds of habits.

“You can’t go to school today,” he says, snuggling into your arms. You grumble a little, but let him stay, hoisting him up to one shoulder so you could get things done easier.

“Why not?” you ask, pulling out some cereal and milk. You pour the cereal in first, as you weren’t an animal, and then an exorbitant amount of milk. Setting down Grim, you sit down at the breakfast table and start shovelling it into your mouth, reading the recipe on the back of the cereal box.

_ Hm _ … yoghurt and berries, simple, but delicious.

“Because we have to go meet your other familiars.”

You drop the box, the cereal spilling over the counter. For a moment you just sit there, letting the mental damage have its way with you, and then you shovel the cereal back in the box.

“... _ Other _ familiars? Youkai, like you?” you say, suddenly not very hungry. One of these morons was more than enough, you  _ really _ didn’t want any more spirits sitting in your living room. Seriously, what if the kids at school started calling you a witch or something?

“Yeah. Although they aren’t as great as me, they’re still useful. Plus, I spent a lot of time with their group. They call themselves, ‘Heartslaybul’,” he says, somehow manoeuvring his way into your lap.

You sigh, dropping your spoon into the cereal.

“How many?”

“Five.”

_ “...Fuck.” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the chapters are slowly getting shorter and shorter... meh, next one will probably be a biggin, considering I hate to introduce every single Heartslaybul familiar. Good luck reader, have fun.


	4. Chapter 4

You stare up at the foreboding forest and mountain above you, a furrow in your brow. Why were you following this guy anyway? This was completely insane, and you really thought it best to just shut the cat out and pretend none of yesterday ever happened.

But of course, fate has its way. You roll your eyes at your dumb joke, you were starting to realise fate was definitely real, and likely your worst enemy on top of that.

“Ya coming, Master? We’re gonna be late at this rate,” Grim says, swaying his single tail. Since you’d been walking around the city he’d decided to don his more normal form, which you had dubbed ‘liar-liar-pants-on-fire’ form. Safe to say, this whole ordeal had put you in a bit of a mood.

You start walking forward, following the small dirt path into the woods, Grim trailing along beside you.

“Late for what? Haven’t you guys been waiting for a few hundred years?” you say, admiring the way the light filters through the leaves above you. It was nice here, you could hear bird song and the faint sound of a stream nearby. And the smell was  _ heavenly _ , pure natural air encompassing you. A small smile graces your lips.

“Eugh… a little older than that, but really I was just trying to get you to hurry up,” Grim says, and you can hear the laugh in his voice. Dumb cat.

Grim hops up on top of a fallen tree blocking your way, grinning at you. You flick him between the ears, and vault over the tree, not too gracefully. He whines at you, pawing at the spot where you flicked him.

“Aren’t I supposed to be your great Master? You seem pretty wordy for a slave,” you ask, turning away from Grim to continue walking down the path. You hear his paws hit the ground behind you, and then he’s sprinting to catch up with you.

“I’m not a slave, I’m your youkai! ...And if you really wanted, I could treat you more respectfully, I just assumed you’d feel more comfortable like this, Master,” the latter part of Grim’s sentence lacks his usual cheeriness, and you glance down at him, staring into his feline blue eyes.

You look back up, your cheeks heating up slightly.

“...No, I’d rather you behave however you want, and your sassiness is…  _ slightly _ charming.”

You can feel Grim’s bright smile, and your cheeks heat up even further. Oh, you instantly want to take it back, but that’d only make you more embarrassed.

“Of course, Master!”

You walk a little faster, ignoring Grim’s snickering.

-

In a small shrine in the middle of the woods, a young tengu sweeps the steps, a hum in his throat and a bounce in his step. He didn’t really know why he felt so cheery today, considering nothing particularly interesting was happening today. Heck, even one of his fellow shrine-mates was M.I.A., but he still couldn’t stop this bubbliness. 

He drifts towards the front of the steps, still sweeping up any dirt or fallen leaves, backing towards the Torii Gate. Just a little more and he should be-

_ ‘ACK!’ _

The tengu spins around, checking what he’d just bumped into and rubbing his head. When he sees what it was, he scowls, his deep blue wings ruffling up.

“Ace?! What are you doing here? You are supposed to be off collecting offerings!” the boy scolds his fellow youkai, a young ginger kitsune with only one tail. Said tail is flicking back and forth in irritation, a scowl on his face. He scratches the back of his head, looking confused.

“Deuce? I was doing it, but I got lost… how the hell did I end up back at the top of the shrine...” Ace says, looking around with obvious perturbation. He really had no idea how he ended up here, one second he was walking down the mountain, and the next he was all the way back at the top of it.

“You got  _ lost? _ How did you get lost?! We’ve lived here for at least a hundred years now!” Deuce says, waving his hand (that isn’t holding the broom) around at the Shrine. It was impossible for Ace to get lost in his own damn shrine, and yet here he was, looking like a lost baby kit without its mother.

“I… I don’t really know-” 

“ _ ACE?! _ What the hell are you doing up here! I sent you down to get the offerings, what are you doing up here?! I swear-” a familiar voice yells, angry at the kitsune’s rule-breaking ways. Ace flinches, his ears going flat against his head and his tail frizzing up.

“Uh, Riddle, I got lost-” Ace starts, turning towards his elder, a red-headed oni with anger issues. He was a good leader, but he sometimes went a little…

**_“LOST?!_ ** _ How on  _ **_earth_ ** _ are you so damn useless!” _

...Overboard.

Riddle starts hitting the top of Ace’s head, periodically scolding him in between thumps. Ace withers away, covering his head with his arms and begging Riddle to forgive him. 

“Stop!”  _ ‘Thump!’  _ “Making”  _ ‘Thump!’ _ “Excuses!”  _ ‘Thump!’  _ “For your!”  _ ‘Thump!’  _ “Laziness!”  _ ‘Thumpthumpthump!’ _

Deuce moves forward, trying to shield Ace from Riddles punishment, the shrieking and screaming from the group growing louder and louder. 

Which of course, brings another Youkai towards the sounds of chaos.

A green double-winged tengu approaches the three, trepidation in his eyes. He doesn’t know what’s going on, and honestly? He’d rather not ever know. But being one of the groups only forms of impulse control, it was his job to calm everybody down.

“R-Riddle! Leave Ace alone, tell me what’s going on,” Trey’s words barely breach through Riddles mildly-deserved rant.

Riddle takes a couple steps back from Ace, and Ace ducks behind Deuce, who is increasingly troubled that Ace would use him as a shield. Ah, brotherly love.

“ _ Ace told me he  _ **_got_ ** _ lost when he was  _ **_supposed_ ** _ to be doing a chore!” _ Riddle says through gritted teeth, hands clenching and face red.

Trey looks up at Ace, obvious disappointment in his eyes.

“...You really thought he would believe that?” his voice is less scolding and more ‘I’m-so-sorry-you’re-so-stupid’. Ace fluffs up, his cheeks growing red and his eyes angry.

“Im serious! I got lost, for real!” he shouts, fluffing his tail up so he seemed more intimidating.

Trey shakes his head, obviously not believing the trouble-making kitsune.

“Hey guys! What’s up?” another voice calls, and the entire group turns their heads to the new-comer, a kitsune with orange hair and full nine-tails.

Cater grins, waving at them and moving towards the group, cheery as ever.

“Ace was slacking off…” Deuce says, and Ace gasps, betrayed by his best friend…

Cater winces, knowing what kind of punishment Riddle gives for slacking off, and shakes his head in disappointment, just like Trey.

“ _ Oh for fucks sake-!  _ I got lost, I made a mistake! It wasn’t intentional! Leave me alone!” Ace shouts, anger rising at every word he said. 

“There’s no way you got lost, Ace. Why would you come up with a lie like that? And I thought you’d gotten so much better…” Cater says, a wistful look on his face till Riddle turns to him, his face growing even redder.

_ “ _ **_You’ve been teaching him how to lie?!_ ** _ ”  _ he shrieks, and Cater blanches, realising what he’d just said. 

“R-Riddle! He’s a kitsune, it’s only natural-” 

**_“ONLY NATURAL!?”_ **

Riddle leaps forward, tackling Cater to the ground, Cater screeching all the way. Everyone starts screaming, struggling to ply the physically strong oni off of the kitsune, to no success. Riddle launches a punch down at Cater’s face, and the kitsune barely dodges the strike, rolling away from Riddle.

Trey dives to get in the way, but is simply bowled over by Riddle, the poor tengu getting thrown away from the fight and straight into the stone. Deuce and Ace do their best to tug Riddle backwards, and Riddle lands an elbow into Ace’s face, the boy crumbling to the ground instantly.

-

Through all the chaos, a person stumbles through the woods, pushing themselves up the mountain in a hike they weren’t particularly prepared for. They look up when they hear the sounds of screaming, blinking away sweat.

“...Grim, do you hear that?” you ask through your wheezing, eyes glancing around. What the hell was that?

Grim blinks, tilting his head and swivelling his ears. His eyes widen for a second, and then close, the nekomata shaking his head with a sigh.

“Maybe we should come back later… I didn’t check if they were ready...” Grim says, staring up the mountain. Your mouth drops open at the suggestion, eyes wide.

“Are you fucking  _ kidding _ me?! As if! I am not doing this again, hell no! I don’t care if they’re not ready, they’re supposed to be my god damn familiars and they can deal with whatever they’ve got going on!” you say, refusing to climb this fucking mountain twice. No siree, not fucking happening. Grim had offered to carry you, but you’d rather die than let a catboy carry you, so there was no way you were doing this trip twice.

You push up the mountain with more vigour, ignoring the sounds of obvious fighting. Finally, you push into an opening in the forest, stumbling out of the bushes and on to a stone-brick path.

A torii gate sits above you, the red pillars signifying the ascension into another world. You stare through it, to what lay just on the other side of the gate.

A group of youkai pummelling each other.

You just stare, completely silent. Grim pops out of the bushes beside you and stares up at the group, wincing and ears flat against his head.

“...What in the fuck is this?”

The fighting stops immediately, all heads whipping up to look at you. Five pairs of eyes bare into yours, pure shock on their faces. They don’t say anything, completely silent.

Grim sighs, moving forward to sit in front of you, bowing his head slightly.

“Master… welcome the Heartslaybul shrine, we hope we can serve you well as your faithful familiars.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> remember in chapter 3 how i said id be doing longer chapters? lmao. its fine tho ive got TWO chapters which is more than a long one:) ALSO MORE OFFERINGS FOR TWSTEDFORYOU! PLEASE LOOK AT MY FIC ONE DAY!

“Master… welcome to the Heartslaybul shrine, we hope we can serve you well as your faithful familiars,” Grim says, his voice sounding uncharacteristically formal. You wonder if it’s because he was trying to make up for the rest of the team…

They split apart, falling away like a broken puzzle. Just as fast as they move into a line, on their knees before you and head pressed against the ground. You blink, that’s the type of bow they’d give the emperor- Oh no, you didn’t like this.

“You don’t have to do that-” you say, waving your hands in front of you. You were trying to get used to this, but… Well, Grim was definitely right when he said respectfulness just made you feel uncomfortable. And the most intense sign of respect…

“We have to, Master. Your first meeting with us is of the utmost importance, and we apologise for the way we behaved,” the one in the middle says. He’s the smallest, has blood red hair and two horns, growing from pale at the base to a red at the ends. An oni, you think, the classic demon from legend. 

Well, it was a little strange, but not… This  _ really _ wasn’t necessary.

One dares a peak up at you, ginger hair and fluffy ears, with garnet red eyes. You blink down at him, uncertain of what to do. Quirking a smile, you wave at him, hoping he’ll get up. He just stares at you, a slow blush tracing his cheeks. You notice his tail wagging, and you raise an eyebrow at him. 

A hand snaps to the side (from another and wacks the back of his head, making him bow back down. He barely makes any sound, going back to the original respectful bow.

…

You look down at Grim, eyes pleading. 

“...Tell them what you want, and they’ll do it right away. They haven’t had to deal with… subtle hints before, they’ll figure it out eventually but it’d be best if you just told them,” he says, smirking. Probably proud that he understands basic social communication, stupid runt.

“Ah- Um, please get up,” you say, looking away from Grim to the five spirits. 

They all stand up, but keep bowing from the waist at you.

“...Stop bowing. It makes me uncomfortable.”

They  _ finally  _ stop bowing, looking at you with curious and excited eyes. The one in the middle is bright red you notice, his cheeks completely flushed over. But he still stands tall, the same ecstatic look in his eyes. He’s embarrassed, but happy anyway.

He clears his throat, coughing into the sleeve of his yukata before looking at you with a soft smile.

“Yes, as Grim said, Welcome to Heartslaybul shrine. We will do our best for you, Master,” he says, a loving look in his eyes.

“Thank you for having us, Master!” the other four cheer, smiling at you.

You slowly look away from them and the torii gate down to Grim, who stares up at you with a grin and a knowing look in his eye.

“Ya see? We coulda come later, you really should listen to me more, Master,” he says, and you roll your eyes. Stupid cat, he really could use  _ some _ manners.

Looking back at the others, you bite your lip. They did look like they were about to burst from excitement and to be honest, you felt a little interested yourself. You take a deep breath, trying to shrug off the weirdness of this situation.

“Alright… why don’t you guys tell me your names?”

-

You look around the shrine, eyes wide and curious. You loved Japan’s architecture, it had always been one of your favourite things about your home. To be fair, you loved anything old, if it had a story to it, you couldn’t help but adore it.

And looking around at the youkai, flitting around the room as they prepare you some tea, you can definitely guess this place has an interesting history. You were sitting on the ground, the same traditionalism as everywhere else you looked.

A cup is put in front of you, and some tea is poured inside. You turn smiling in thanks at the man with two wings, and he, in turn, beams down at you.

The leader sits across from you, his eyes analyzing your every move. Surprisingly this doesn’t bother you, his stare a little intense but the soft smile on his face completely betraying his emotions.

“...I see Grim has already been blessed with his rope, then,” he says, glancing to the side at Grim. Grim practically  _ preens _ at the attention, obviously showing off his rope, tied by you and all.

You ignore him, paying attention to the demon instead.

“Well, let’s introduce ourselves, shall we? My name is Riddle, “ the red-headed demon says, laying a hand to his chest and then looking up over his shoulder to the green-winged youkai. He smiles down at you, bowing slightly again. You frown, uncertain how you’d be able to convince them to stop doing that. Bowing was everywhere in Japan, but as long as you weren’t anyone important and avoided people well enough, the only people who would bow to you were the ones who ran into you at full speed on the subway.

You would wave people like that off, not caring one bit. You think that might be too large a portion of your personality, not caring one bit.

Your mind flicks back to yesterday when you nearly cried. ...You hadn’t cared what happened to the guy, especially after Grim pointed out what he was trying to take. An heirloom from your grandmother, and something incredibly precious to you. She was gone now, and that was the only remnant you had of the woman who had raised you.

At that point, you wondered if you should have just let Grim kill the guy, but it was too late for that anyway.

You shake the thoughts away, smiling back up at the tall man, your features polite. If there was anything you were good at, it was the polite face. Retail-workers either mastered it... or died at twenty-eight from a heart attack.

“My name is Trey, thank you for coming, Master,” Trey says. You nod at him, accepting the biscuits he put on the table. You weren’t one to turn down free food, after all. You mumble a small ‘thank-you’ and he beams, proud of himself.

“My name is Cater, it’s lovely to finally meet you, Master!” another youkai chirps, the one with the orange half-pinned back hair and nine-tails. You think you can safely assume the man is a kitsune, but you don’t ask anyway. Didn’t really know what would offend these guys, even if Grim insisted you could ‘physically beat them and they’d still look at you with lovey-dovey eyes’.

Honestly, he’d said some pretty unbelievable things, but that was highest on your list. While the two of you were in the forest he’d informed you of how they’d behave, and how best to act. Basically, he just said ‘Do whatever, we don’t care’, you’d responded simply.

‘Bullshit.’

Everybody had a limit, and it was best to stay far away from it. 

You analyze Cater, tilting your head and narrowing your eyes… you didn’t see what love-struck look Grim was talking about, he looked happy but…

Cater sweats under your gaze and you quickly glance down at your tea, making sure not to bother him anymore. This was really far too weird. You stare down at your tea, swirling it a little, watching the tea leaves floating around.

“I’m Ace, and I’ll be the best familiar you could ask for!” another one says, a grin on his face. He leans down and sits next to you, ignoring Riddle’s mild scolding. He seemed to have calmed down a lot from earlier, which was good.

“...That’s nice,” you say, mildly flushed by your incredibly dumb response. He just grins, fangs on display. You blink twice at that,  _ dude has sharp teeth! _ It wasn’t as bad as Grim’s shark teeth, but it was a lot more shocking up close.

A voice clears its throat, and you turn your head to the final youkai. This one had the same wings as the Trey, but only one pair and they were a beautiful midnight blue. His cheeks are quite pink, and he rubs the back of his neck. Yup, the guy was flustered, no idea why though.

“I’m… Deuce. I’m really sorry for how we acted earlier,” he says, keeping his gaze to the floor. He was shy, a mythical being… shy. Huh, wasn’t expecting that curve-ball.

“Oh yeah, by the way, why did that happen?” you ask, leaning forward, hands clasped in your lap. You hope your question doesn’t offend, but you were too curious to simply let an all-out brawl between your familiars happen without answers.

Huh,  _ ‘your familiars’ _ , you have to admit, it does have a nice ring to it.

Ace groans beside you, deflating. You look at him questioningly.

“Ah, I got lost in the forest and everyone thought I was just ditching chores…  _ Wait! _ I know why it happened! It’s because of you!” he shouts, leaning in closer to you. You naturally lean away from him, basically diagonal in your attempt to keep him out of your personal bubble.

Luckily, he turns away from you to Riddle. He crosses his arms, glaring at the oni.

“I told you the truth, I did get lost, and it was because I was gravitating towards Master,” he says, a proud smirk on his face.

...He reminds you of Grim - in a bad way, of course.

Riddle tilts his head, holding his chin and thinking. His eyebrows raise a little in surprise, and he looks back up at Ace.

“What do you know, you’re not a filthy cheat,” Riddle says, picking up his tea and taking a sip. You smile at his words, you think you and this Riddle guy will get on just swell. Anyone mean to brats gets a tick in your book, and you could already tell Ace was going to be a definite little shit. 

“ _ Hey! _ Watch your words, seeing as you tried to beat me for something I didn’t do,” Ace snaps, glaring over the table at Riddle.

Grim yawns, evidently uninterested in the conversation and crawls into your lap. You scratch his ears absentmindedly, trying to figure out what the two were talking about. How could you have gotten Ace lost?

Unbeknownst to you, a grey cat smirks up at a scowling Ace, the two having a staring contest that you completely miss. 

“Wait, I’m missing something here, how did I make Ace lost?” you ask, moving your hand to scratch under Grim’s chin.

“When a youkai is in a certain range of their Master, they will unconsciously start moving closer to them. Ace likely was drawn back up the mountain by you,” Trey says, and you nod, understanding. So they had an internal compass pointing it’s way towards you? How strange…

Riddle clears his throat, and you look over to him. He’s got a slightly pink tinge to his cheeks, and he suddenly seems very interested in the view from the window beside him.

“That was likely why I was so agitated, I felt you coming for a while but I refused to leave my duties, so I’ve been on edge all day. I’m very sorry, Ace,” he seems apologetic, which is nice, you suppose.

Ace scoffs, rolling his eyes. He didn’t seem to accept his apology. You look at him for a second before shrugging, taking a sip of your tea. Not your problem!

“Ah… that’s why I felt so happy earlier,” Deuce mumbles to himself. 

He smiles down into his cup of tea, a soft look in his eyes.

...You look away.

“Since we’ve cleared all that up, shall we commence with the rope-tying?” Riddle asks, and you nod. Let’s get this over with so you can go home and have a nice nap. 

“Alright then…” and then, in sync, they all pull out a string from their robes, every rope a lovely crimson red and a gem hanging from every single one.

You sigh, this was probably gonna take a while.

  
  



End file.
